Catholicism,
still viewed by many with suspicion. That men and Women have died because
of such ignorance is the greatest sin of all, that they have died refusing
to deny the one true religion is the greatest triumph of all.

Several of these priests are difficult to identify ; some of them certainly
appear under an alias ; the three Fr. Lloyd's are especially puzzling.
Moreover Trevor has omitted the names of Frs. Pritchard, Archer (alias
Groves), Price, Humfreys and Draicott, whom we know to have been attached
to the Cwm at this time ; no doubt some of them appear in the above list
under an alias. In spite of this regrettable confusion we are justified
in concluding from the above list that in in 1678, long past the time
when according to Ll. Williams and T.P. Ellis Catholics in Wales had almost
vanished, there were at least fourteen priests on active service in a
countryside where today there are only four.2
Nor should anyone imagine that theses priests were mere chaplains to the
squirearchy ; the agents of the English government, at least, did not
think so. Men like Sir John Arnold were constantly warning the extreme
Protestant party in Parliament and making their flesh creep with alarming
reportsof the boldness of Catholics and the "encouragement given
to popery in the counties of Hereford and Monmouthshire". From the
same "Abstract" of Sir John Trevor we learn that Fr. Harries
at Clytha said Mass for more than one hundred, "the crowd was so
great that the Loft was forced to be propped lest it should fall down
under the Weight ".
At Abergavenny in a prominent street there was "a public chapel1
for Papists adorned with the marks of the Jesuits on the outside, and
such numbers flocked there that a hundred were seen to come out of it
when not above forty attended the parish church". At Dingestow the
Catholics "to the number of three score, used to frequent the house
of Lady Jones at Treowen and had the presumption to pass through the parish
churchyard, whether it was time for divine service or not".
Moreover Catholics still climbed to the top of St. Michael's Mount, Ysgyryd
Fawr, where "there was a chapel, then ruinous, and make for themselves
an Altar of stone with crosses upon it" , and people could still
be seen "kneeling towards the said Altar with beads in their hands".
(In 1603 Mass was said here weekly by two priests.) These, and similar
stories, hardly suggest that as a result of the Civil War Welsh Catholicism
had died out. In fact we now know from statistics published by Dr. T.
Richards and Emyr Gwynne Jones, that there was a remarkable increase in
the Catholic population of Gwent during the thirty years following the
Civil War. No one knows how many practising Catholics there really were
in Wales in the 17th century the English Government itself failed to discover
this. The totals given in the various censuses must be used with caution
because they were made in different circumstances ; sometimes an Anglican
bishop would try to minimize the number of known papists in his diocese
for fear of a reprimand from Whitehall. But since the totals given for
Monmouthshire are always larger after the Civil War than before 2
we can only accept Dr. Richard's conclusion that until the disaster of
the Popish Plot cathpolics in Gwent were steadily increasing in spite
of persecution. This increase was due chiefly to the zeal of the Jesuit
missioners at Cwm where Fr. David Lewis was Rector 1667-72, and again
from 1674-9. The tolerance towards Catholicism of the Monmouthshire magistrates,
several of whom had relatives still loyal to the old Faith, was not to
the liking of the few active Protestants among the gentry, notably John
Arnold of Abergavenny, and John Scudamore of Kentchurch. These two, local
J.P's and members of Parliament, were tireless in their determination
to enlighten Parliament about the true state of affairs in the county,
and to have the penal laws against Catholics enforced in all their rigour.
In 1670 they informed the House of Lords that "at Llantarnam, an
eminent papist's house in Monmouthshire (it was Lady Morgan's) there is
a room fitted up chapelwise for saying of Mass where Fr. David Lewis,
a popish priest, hath said Mass for many years past", and that there
were still six Jesuit priests at the Cwm which "had been a shelter
for such popish priests for near forty years". Alarmed by these reports,
Parliament in 1674 ordered the arrest of these priests at the Cwm and
the immediate seizure of two-thirds of the lands of all lay Catholics,
but there was still sufficient support for Catholicism among the local
magistrates to prevent these urgent orders being obeyed, and nothing was
done. Arnold and Scudamore tried again. In March '78 they laid fresh information
before Parliament of "several popish priests and the persons that
do countenance them in the county of Monmouth".
The thirty years ministry of Fr Lewis and his fellow Jesuits had not been
in vain. John Arnold himself is clear proof of the strength of Catholicism
in Gwent at this time; here was a rabid priest-hunter, an M.P. and a magistrate
who had known for years where Fr Lewis, the head of the Jesuits, said
daily Mass, and yet dared not use the legal powers he had as a magistrate
to arrest him.